Shaw and Smith’s 2021 Lenswood Vineyard Chardonnay is a single-vineyard Adelaide Hills wine drawn from Blocks 3 and 4 at the Lenswood site, planted in 1999 at around 500 metres elevation. It is 100% chardonnay, made in a contemporary, tightly built style: wild-fermented in 500-litre French oak puncheons (a mix of new and used, with 30% new noted in the reviews), then matured for 10 months with occasional stirring. The wine is 13% alcohol and sealed under screw cap.

Critical reception is notably strong. Two reviewers call it out as a benchmark-level Australian chardonnay, both awarding excellent 96-point scores. James Suckling rates it 96 and says it is “among the country’s varietal exemplars,” highlighting “white peaches, toasted hazelnuts, jasmine and nougatine,” and praising how “the oak, beautifully embedded, serves as a framing backdrop rather than the centrepiece.” Halliday Wine Companion likewise scores it 96, describing it as “transparent and tensile” and “a wine of precision, intense flavours and immense class,” again emphasizing that the oak is supportive rather than dominant.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin) gives 95 points, describing the 2021 as “creamy and restrained” and “a wholly classy affair,” with savory-leaning detail: “chalky phenolics, salted peach, lashings of white miso green apples, leafy things (bay and sage) and loads of salted crushed nuts.” Larkin also notes the Bernard clones (95 and 76) and calls Lenswood “a good-looking site—lush, healthy, gorgeous,” while stressing the wine’s balance: “Elegant to the end, and totally streamlined, all elements are in harmony.”

Wine Spectator’s 93-point review frames it as “an intense white,” with “grapefruit and tangerine,” “hints of struck match,” and a “stunning streak of mouthwatering acidity,” adding an availability detail: “30 cases imported.” Overall, the profile reads as fruit-forward but firmly structured, with citrus drive, nutty complexity, and measured, well-integrated oak.